Editorial: Forget ‘squatters.’ Florida should get a little ‘adverse’ with lenders

Jason
Friedman’s dream of owning a home lasted only two weeks before Palm Beach
County sheriff’s deputies labeled him a squatter and removed him from the
vacant, 3,400-square-foot Acreage house he had tried to acquire through
Florida’s adverse possession law.

It
is the latest South Florida case involving individuals using the archaic law to
benefit from the state’s foreclosure crisis. Adverse possession allows a person
to file a claim of ownership on an abandoned or vacant property and take
permanent ownership after paying taxes and caring for the property for seven
years. The law was created more than a century ago, when handwritten property
records were easily lost or damaged and allowed land to be kept in productive
use when ownership was in doubt.

The
Legislature passed a bill amending the law. It is awaiting Gov. Rick Scott’s
signature, and legislators hope that it will deter other potential squatters.
Squatting, however, should not be a main concern. The more important goal
should be to encourage lenders to expedite foreclosures, and get properties on
the market and into the hands of responsible owners.

House
Bill 903, which would prohibit individuals filing adverse possession claims
from occupying the affected properties for seven years, misses the mark. While
it likely would prevent people from using adverse possession to take over homes
they can’t live in for seven years, it would do nothing to prevent banks from
keeping abandoned homes in limbo for that long.

The
Palm Beach County Clerk’s office this week auctioned off homes that have been
in foreclosure since 2008. Though some borrowers stay in their homes
mortgage-free for years while lenders dawdle, many abandon their properties,
leaving them ripe for thieves, gangs and squatters who have no intention of
maintaining them.

Mr.
Friedman, though, moved his family into the house in the 12000 block of 54th
Street North because the home he was renting went into foreclosure. As The
Post’s Kimberly Miller reported, he followed the adverse possession statute by
protecting the house with a new fence that he bought for nearly $3,000 and
filing a claim with the property appraiser’s office. He was taking care of the
property, having cleaned the disgusting pool. Surely, the neighbors preferred
that the house be in Mr. Friedman’s hands.

But
West Palm Beach resident Devon Anderson, the owner of record who had apparently
left the property to the ravages of nature, objected to Mr. Friedman’s
occupancy, and called police. With Mr. Friedman arrested, the house is empty
again and the pool will be slimy again.

Roy
Oppenheim, a foreclosure defense attorney, noted that there are cases when it’s
preferable to have a so-called squatter in the neighborhood. “In some weird
ways these people are actually helping the community,” he said. “They could
actually improve the quality of life in a particular community as opposed to
the bank having a boarded-up home.” Gov. Scott should veto the bill, and next
year ask for changes that hold lenders accountable.